C'est la Vie
by auPHE
Summary: But there was always this nagging feeling in his stomach that told him no, life wasn't fair, but there was something especially unfair about his situation. Too bad that he didn't know what, or who, it was he was missing. :AkuRoku oneshot that may be cont.


I'm lazy. 8D Finally got something written that I can post.

**Kingdom Hearts and its characters are the property of Square Enix and Disney.**

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Life's not fair; live with it.

He was told that all the time, beginning with his toddler years. You know, the two- and three-year-olds that you see in the grocery store being dragged by their mothers and whining for this or that, screaming "THAT'S NOT FAIR!" when they're told no.

"_Life_ isn't fair," is the generally accepted, and used, parental response, leaving the toddler grasping for arguments. Finding none, they proceed to throw themselves on the floor and wail despairingly. Yeah. That was him as a child.

He couldn't comprehend the intensity behind the words that so effectively halted all his begging, but later in life he thought he understood. The odd thing, though, was that he still didn't agree with the sentiment of it. Well, to an extent; life was most certainly unfair, and that was undeniable.

But there was always this nagging feeling in his stomach that told him no, life _wasn't_ fair, but there was something especially unfair about his situation. Like, he didn't know, he was supposed to be somewhere else with someone else doing something else, but by some twist of fate that life didn't decide (life knew how to be unfair in a fairly fair way) he had landed himself here, with them, doing this.

There wasn't any actual proof for this theory, and it was a stupid theory to begin with, but that didn't help. He still had that sensation, and sometimes it grew and sometimes it waned. When he laughed with his friends, it grew until he was _sure_ that originally he was supposed to be laughing with other people, and when he was alone it waned, because life had always intended him to be hermitic.

And then... then, there were the times that he thought for a split-second that he _was_ living the life meant for him. He'd turn to look behind him, opening his mouth to say something to the person who was always meant to be there, but every time there was only empty space. He never knew what it was he was going to say or who he was going to say it to, but when he realized that he couldn't, his chest hurt. His throat tightened and his eyes burned, but he refused on principle to cry for something that he never had—or at least, that he couldn't remember.

Sometimes he called people the wrong names, names that he'd never heard before. As this tended to happen most often when he felt emotional (an uncommon occurrence for someone as stoic as him), he assumed that it too had to deal with the life that he didn't lead.

One day, as he wandered aimlessly as he always did on Saturday afternoons, something else happened.

Browsing his way slowly through the outdoors art fair being held that particular day, something possessed him to stop at a jewelry stand. It didn't display the girly, sparkly type of accessories that were infused with gems, but rather a masculine collection with fierce pendant designs and thick rings sculpted into shapes. As his eyes scanned the table, they latched onto a circular pendant that was sitting father back and slightly hidden behind a gaudy metal wrist-band (that honestly looked more like a gauntlet, he thought as he mocked its creator for their lack of taste).

Extracting it from the pile of accessories around it, he admired it closely. It was about the size of his palm, made with silver (or something similar-looking) but with some parts coloured red to accent the ridges and curves of the piece. The shape itself was complicated; a circle containing a smaller circle, with spokes and even smaller circles connecting the two. Around the outer edges were spikes, and when he ran his finger over them he felt that they'd be able to cut his skin with enough pressure put behind them.

A sense of familiarity came over him as he looked the pendant over, and he quickly passed the 25 dollars necessary to buy it over to the seller without a word, and she nodded at him before moving away to help others. Still examining the object in his hands he slowly turned his head and shoulders, and inside he knew that he was instinctively turning to the person-who-was-never-there.

"Hey, doesn't this remind you... of..." his voice trailed off when he tore his eyes up and away from the pendant, and instead of the consciously expected empty space, he saw a subconsciously just-as-expected person standing there.

The man was tall, taller than him by a head, but it didn't feel awkward or intimidating. There was fire-truck red hair that couldn't be natural, and green eyes that had to be contacts, but he also knew somehow that they were completely hereditary. Two triangular teardrop tattoos (he almost smiled when the alliteration flew through his mind) lay upside-down on his cheekbones, and he didn't even begin to think they were out of place.

Even the large grin that the man's mouth twisted into, both predatory and gentle, didn't alarm him.

"Roxas," the redhead greeted. Roxas nodded hesitantly, wondering why it wasn't creepy that this person knew his name, despite that he knew it should be.

"You know, you took your damn sweet time. I thought we agreed we'd meet up?" the other continued. Roxas gave him a confused look. No, they hadn't. Right? Right. He'd never met this man before, so how could he have arranged a time and place with this guy? A disappointed frown slowly took over the redhead's grin as he registered Roxas' confusion, and he sighed. Reaching into his pocket with long fingers, he pulled out a lighter and a cigarette. All of this, without ever breaking eye contact with Roxas, who finally tore his eyes away and chose to stare at the cigarette that was now held between lips.

"You shouldn't smoke," he said, and then felt his face heat up as he realized what he'd said. _It's not your place to tell others how to live their lives, dumb-shit,_Roxas angrily berated himself. _Besides, what do you care? Let him kill himself if he wants to that badly. _

But the redhead didn't get angry. Instead, he chuckled lightly and ruffled Roxas' hair with his hand (surprisingly, Roxas didn't get the urge to maim him) and smiled. "You worry too much. Besides, I'm trying to quit."

Roxas opened his mouth to disagree, to say that he wasn't worrying at all (a total lie). The moment the engraved lighter clicked open and a flame flickered to life, though, Roxas' mind either shut down... or leapt into overdrive.

_Fire_. Fire was red, red was like his hair but he'd always said he liked Roxas' hair more with green eyes flashing over him that he had left and forgotten and never came back to because he vanished with and into someone else—_his Other—_and then he saw him _die_. Still frames from scenes flashed through his mind quickly, putting themselves together in a jumbled order. A key? No, a blade. A keyblade? Different worlds… He had no heart—yes, he did, but only when he was with him, but he had gone up in flames and smoke and broiling darkness that tore him apart piece by piece.

The sensation of memories rushing through his brain—ones that _felt_ like his even more than the ones he'd _thought_ were his until less than a second ago—left Roxas feeling like he'd been run over. Blinking multiple times in surprise, he looked back up at the redhead.

"...Axel?" The taller male grinned, and Roxas smiled softly in response. "Sorry for taking so long."

"It's okay." Axel wrapped an arm around Roxas' shoulders and pulled him close. "I hadn't even expected a 'next life' in the first place."

Life may never be fair. He may be cursed for the rest of his existence, without a single damn piece of good luck to ever grace his day with its appearance ever again… but Roxas found that he could care less, as long as he had Axel.

And, as they say, c'est la vie—that's life.

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So—I'm Phe. Please call me that. :3 As you may have noticed, this is the first thing I've posted here on FFnet, despite my account being over a year old. The reason for this? I'm a lazy writer. Dur. Editing is more my thing.

At the moment, this is a one-shot, as writing long continuing stories that need to have an actual plot is near impossible for me. I don't have the time or patience needed to write them. I've got lots planned that are slowly making their way into the written stage, but I have _no available ideas for this story. _Got it memor--(brick'd)

All of that said, I am always easily persuaded, so you know what to do if you're DESPERATE for some sort of continuation here. xD That said, I won't die from lack of reviews, so do what you want to.

Look for another one-shot I hope to have written/posted soon; it'll be called "Saint of the Pyre" and is a combination crossover with Ayn Rand's Anthem. :3 Until then… Tschüß! Adieu! Ciao! Sayonara! Get the hell out of here! xD


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